Portfolio Archive - Page 7 of 9

1 January 2014

Dulwich Residence

The clients had outgrown their 1920’s house on a large lot on Montreal’s south shore. They wanted a contemporary extension that would harmonize with their existing house and highlight and expose the structural brick. The existing house and the extension were separated by a glazed volume where the vertical circulation of the house is located. The existing house was re-organized to better suit the needs of the clients, where the entry and living room make up the ground floor and the children’s quarters on the second floor. Three double height spaces link the communal areas of the ground floor with the more private spaces of the second floor while maintaining a warm atmosphere in the house. The extension is organized into 2 intertwining volumes. A brick volume makes up the base and becomes the support for a steel clad volume that projects out into the backyard. The ‘sleeping basket’ is...

1 January 2014

by Giovanni Guillabert

Bolton Residence

Having bought a beautiful plot of wooded land in Quebec’s Eastern Townships, the client dreamt of building a country house that would be in perfect symbiosis with its natural environment. This rugged, sloped site came to a natural plateau just below its highest point, becoming the perfect location to erect the house. The house is characterized by two stacked volumes; a wooden clad volume anchored into the mountain supports a cantilevering ground floor volume above. This gable roofed volume raised into the air gives the sensation that the house is floating amongst the trees. Vast views of Mount Orford and the valley below are framed by a long horizontal strip window. The kitchen and master bathroom are carved out of a black volume at the center of the house dividing living spaces from the master bedroom....

1 January 2014

by Giovanni Guillabert

Mylène B

Mylène B’s creations are distinguished by their clean lines that highlight the silhouette of the female body.This simple and minimalist approach is reflected in the design of the new boutique situated on Boulevard St-Laurent in the heart of Montreal’s Mile-End district. To minimize costs, the client wanted a design that was simple enough that she could build it herself. In order to maximize the impact of the space and stay within the limited budget, the strategy was to use one primary material: fiber-cement panels. This affordable and expressive material harmonizes with the creations of the designer. Once delivered on site, the client was able to manipulate and assemble the material using very simple but uncommon techniques. For example, large paperclip were used to join folded pieces of hot rolled steel and fiber-cement shelves to create the central display. This creates a very versatile and flexible display that can adapt to new...

1 January 2013

by Giovanni Guillabert

Lajeunesse Residence

We were hired by a young couple to do a complete renovation of a house built by the clients grandfather, now housing its third generation of the same family. They wanted to combine the two existing apartments into a single family house on two levels. Their request was that we created something modern and bright. Due to the noisy street at the front of the house, the main living spaces were placed at the back facing north creating the challenge of bringing direct sunlight into these spaces. A double height light-well topped with a skylight, aids in bringing light to the centre of the house. On the ground floor, a wall of translucent sliding panels protects the living spaces from unwanted gazes from the street as well as acting as a vestibule in winter. A plywood handrail wraps around the stair and folds at the base becoming a long bench for...

1 January 2013

by Giovanni Guillabert

Coleraine Residences

This project was completed for a developer/home builder at the intersection between Coleraine Street and a laneway in Montreal’s Point St-Charles neighborhood. The basic program for this project required 2 row-homes on an 8.7m wide lot. After accounting for setbacks and other constraints, traditional planning approaches would have resulted in 2 long narrow houses, which severely lacked natural light. Our solution was to intertwine both units in a zigzag fashion, maximizing on natural light, and creating dynamic angular spaces. The two units intersect at the top floor to create an intimate space for a master bedroom, an office, and a terrace in each unit. This design was reinforced by the site’s footprint, which has a 75-degree angle at the intersection between the street and the laneway and further inspired the creation of angular forms and oblique perspective lines within the interior. The building is composed of a brick base, which...

1 January 2013

by Giovanni Guillabert

Guido Molinari foundation

At his death, the minimalist painter Guido Molinari left as a legacy his former atelier/residence. Located in a former bank, the space would be used as a conservation and dissemination center for the artist’s creative work. The exhibit space, located in the main hall of the former bank, faced two major constraints. Having two facades completely covered by windows, it didn’t have enough display surfaces. Also, some of the artist’s enormous paintings could only be stored within the space. The solution was to design three movable volumes that could contain large format paintings and be used as extra display surfaces. These storage blocks can be moved at will to create a multitude of configurations....

1 January 2013

by Giovanni Guillabert

Chambord Residence

The client wanted to utilize the second storey of her 1920s duplex by converting her former rental unit into 3 bedrooms and an office space. While the grey-stone front facade only required minor restorations, the back of the house was transformed completely. An emphasis on transparency creates constant visual and physical connections with the backyard. A cedar clad volume, containing the master bedroom, punches through the glass exterior wall and cantelivers over the backyard, sheltering the patio below. The wood cladding continues through to the inside, blurring the boundaries between interior and exterior....

1 January 2013

by Giovanni Guillabert

Alexandra Residence

The client’s priority was to maximize the natural light in their new live/work house in Montreal’s Mile-Ex district. This was made challenging by the east-west orientation of the infill lot. However, our design fills even the core of the house with light through the implementation of a 2 storey light-well which runs the length of the southern side of the house. Additional light is reflected into this light-well by the client’s office space, a white volume that sits atop the northern edge light-well. Spaces on the second storey also benefit from the light well’s luminosity; the walls adjacent to it are fully glazed and a floor to ceiling piece of frosted glass brings a very soft light into the bathroom. The expressive back facade of the house is defined by the angular geometry of the floating steel box. The front facade, however, is composed primarily of bricks to conform with the heritage character of the neighbourhood. Two disjuncted apertures break...

1 January 2013

by Giovanni Guillabert

Sorel Residence

We were faced with the challenge of designing a contemporary single-family home in the middle of suburbia, amidst a sea of Victorian-inspired houses. The client purchased a vacant lot in Sorel, a suburb of Montreal, to be close to her family. She imagined a house that would stand out from its surroundings. The form of the house was created by offsetting 2 rectangular bars in plan, bridging over them with a gable roof and chamfering the corners. These chamfered cuts in the roof both create dynamic angular perspectives and create intimate covered exterior spaces such as the front entry and the screened-in porch. A small footprint was used on a generous sized site, leaving the existing trees undisturbed. The house was oriented perpendicular to the road, creating a semi-private wooded garden on the north side of the house. Southern light is brought in by two majestic skylights positioned at the center...

1 January 2013

by Giovanni Guillabert

8E avenue

This intervention transformed a residential two storey duplex in Rosemont into a single dwelling unit by completely reorganizing the interior and constructing a 430 sqft extension in the rear. The extension includes a master bedroom on the second floor and a family room that gives onto an intimate garden at ground level. Standing proud on a typical Montreal laneway, the extension acts as a beacon of novelty and dynamism. While little work was done to the front facade, this extension was designed in contrast, with bright colors, an angled form, and generous glazing. Work on the interior centered on exposing and highlighting the beauty of existing wooden structural walls and beams and supporting them with a more subtle pallet of materials. Natural daylight is brought into the core with a large skylight and glass floor placed at the center of the house....